When lawns are mown it is generally advisable to collect the grass cuttings which would otherwise collect on the surface of the lawn and apart from damaging the lawn, would look unsightly. The cuttings are often collected by way of a suitable grass box or collector attached to the mower which is used.
Lawnmowing is a time consuming and arduous task. An improvement to lawnmowing design would be a device which saves labour and time. An easy mechanism which would save the user from having to regularly detach the grassbox and carry this to a dumping site would save much time while still giving the user the opportunity of operating the lawnmower so that it collected all grass cuttings. Presently designs are such when lawnmowers are operated without grass catchers fitted in an effort to reduce the time taken to cut a lawn the grass entering the grass exit chute is compacted against the safety plate which closes this chute when no catcher is fitted. This forms large agglomerates of grass which are not evenly distributed over the lawn and need physical removal after mowing resulting in no labour saving at all.
It has been recognised that it could be beneficial to lawns if at least a portion of the cuttings could be distributed over the lawn provided that these mowings were somewhat finer than is usually the case and that they were relatively evenly distributed.
To do this the so called rotary type of lawnmower (i.e. with a blade having a substantially vertical axis of rotation) has been provided with a removable or adjustable baffle at the exit chute thereof. This baffle blocks or partially blocks the exit chute so that grass mowings under the lawnmower float in an air pocket above the blades before falling again into the blades and being chopped into small pieces. This process may be repeated before the grass falls onto the lawn in the form of mulch, the mowings being of a size small enough to find their way into the lawn and not simply lie on the top thereof.
Failure to provide such a baffle plate when mowing without the grass catcher fitted results in the grass entering the exit chute compacting and forming grass agglomerates. These are unsightly as they eventually exit the mower housing and as they are typically in lump form which require physical removal after mowing is complete, they can in no way contribute to fertilisation of the lawn by means of organic decay or composting.
It will readily be appreciated that the advantages of a mower cf the above type include the fact that the mower may be used for mulching at one time and to clean up new cuttings and excess mulched grass at another. A disadvantage is however that the installation, removal or adjustment of the baffle is tedious.
One object of this inventions to provide an apparatus for the treatment of lawns which can readily be changed from a mowing to a mulching configuration.